U.S. Constitution: GSU 2013

Important info pertaining to the history of the United States Constitution, it's development, and it's progression throughout the years. Be sure to visit the Constitution Day tab for the current year to see what events are taking place on campus now!

Theme for 2013

Introduction to privacy by Dr. Jonathan Bryant

Dr. Jonathan Bryant's biography

Jonathan Bryant is a historian who holds both the J. D. and a Ph. D. His classes at Georgia Southern include Georgia History, the Destruction of Slavery, and Constitutional History. Professor Bryant's last book, How Curious a Land: Conflict and Change in Greene County, Georgia, 1850-1885, considered the role of law in social change by examining a plantation community transformed by Civil War. He is currently finishing a manuscript, Dark Places of the Earth: The Voyage of the Slave Ship Antelope, that tells the story of an illegal slaving voyage that produced the most important case on slavery to come out of John Marshall's Supreme Court.

The George-Anne

September 17, 2013 | By Julia FrancisOver 150 students gather for a discussion of privacy in the 21st century.

We'll Be Watching You

Constitution Day 2013 Program

I'll Be Watching You: The Right to Privacy in the 21st Century

Introduction to privacy through the 19th century by Dr. Jonathan Bryant, followed by lecture, "I'll Be Watching You: the Right to Privacy in the 21st Century" by Dr. Richard Pacelle

2013 GSU Constitution Day pt.2

Pt. 2 of Dr. Richard Pacelle's lecture on the right to privacy in the 20th and 21st centuries.

Dr. Van Wagenen's Public History Class Sponsors the Bill of Rights

2013 Constitution Day Library Display

Dr. Richard Pacelle, Speaker

Dr. Richard Pacelle's biography

Richard Pacelle is Professor of Political Science. He received his Ph.D. from Ohio State University in 1985. He taught at Indiana University and the University of Missouri-St. Louis before coming to Georgia Southern in 2002. His research is concerned with public law generally and the U.S. Supreme Court and separation of powers more specifically. He is the author of four books including the recently published Decision Making by the Modern Supreme Court as well as a number of journal articles and chapters in edited volumes. His fifth book, The Nation’s Balance Wheel: The US Supreme Court in a System of Separated Powers, is due to the publisher the day of the Constitution Day event. Professor Pacelle is the recipient of the 2000 Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, the 2000-01 Governor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, the 2006-07 CLASS Award for Distinction in Scholarship, and the 2009-10 University Award of Excellence in Scholarship and Research.

Court Cases, Legislation, and Discussions

In Cleveland Ohio, on May 3, 1957, police officers suspected that a bombing suspect was in the home of Dollree Mapp. After being denied entrance, the police sought to obtain a warrant. Upon return with a warrant, the police entered the home, but did not find the suspect they were looking for. Instead, they found a trunk full of pornographic material. She was then arrested and convicted of possessing the pictures. Mapp argued on appeal that her 4th amendment rights had been violated by the search.

Use the following Supreme Court cases, Amendments, and Legislation to help understand the talk on Privacy to be given by Dr. Pacelle. Consult the USA Patriot Act for Congressional action on privacy. Also find examples of legislation and discussion taking place in congress that is intended to strengthen the 4th amendment.

This case delt with contraceptives, and an 1875 Connecticut law which criminalized the use of "any drug, medicinal article or instrument for the purposes of preventing conception." Further, the law stated that "any person who assists, abets, counsels, causes, hires or commands another to commit any offense may be prosecuted and punished as if he were the principle offender."Griswold was the Executive Director of Planned Parenthood League of Connecticut and sought to challenge the law by opening a clinic in Connecticut. She and Dr. C. Lee Buxton, a doctor and professor at Yale Medical School, were arrested and fined $100 each. They appealed the case on the grounds that the law violated the constitution.

The Patriot Act was a pivotal piece of legislation implemented after the tragedies of September 11th, 2001. It was meant to keep us safer, but the consequences of it have been hotly debated (Even by a panel at Georgia Southern's Constitution Day 2011). Love it or hate it, it is important to understand it and how it impacts our lives as individuals in a free state.

From the Findings in the Senate Bill: "Congress finds that the right under the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures is violated when the Federal Government or a State or local government acquires information voluntarily relinquished by a person to another party for a limited business purpose without the express informed consent of the person to the specific request by the Federal Government or a State or local government or a warrant, upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized." (At the date of this writing, this bill has not been made into law.)

From the Findings in the Senate Bill: "Congress finds the following: The Bill of Rights states in the 4th Amendment to the United States Constitution that `The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.' Media reports indicate that the National Security Agency is currently collecting the phone records of American citizens. Media reports indicate that the National Security Agency has secured a top secret court order in April 2013 from a court established under section 103 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1803) for the telephone records of millions of American citizens." The list of findings continues with more grievances laid out.

This bill was introduced by Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky on June 7, 2013. At the time of this writing, the bill has been placed on the Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar no. 83.

"Mr. DUNCAN of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, in the run-up to the American Revolution, American colonialists were concerned over the English Government's use of general warrants--giving British authorities the right to enter into private homes or businesses without evidence of wrongdoing--to search for and seize anything they considered contraband under English laws and taxation. This led to the Founding Fathers including this in the United States Constitution:
Amendment IV. The right of people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable search and seizures, shall not be violated and no warrants shall be issued but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized.
That is why this debate over NSA programs is so important. Americans should be secure in their private papers--electronic or otherwise--against unreasonable searches and seizures."